The research focuses on paternal contributions to child development. In particular, the role of fathers with wives with affective disorders is examined. Families are selected for the study on the basis of the mothers' diagnoses, as normal or depressed. Fathers, mothers, and two children (ages 2-5 & 8-11) are studied in a home-like environment established in the laboratory. They participate in a variety of planned situations representative of day-to-day family events. These combine and recombine the family unit into dyads and tryads as well as total group. Data consist of observations of the father's interactions with family members, an interview with the father concerning his involvement in childrearing and his description of an event that captures, for him, the "essence of fathering", and a psychiatric interview. Do fathers take on a special role when mothers are ill? Does a well father with good relationships within the family significantly reduce the risks for the children? Conceptualizations of rearing considering both parents will be developed.